Painting Mary Magdalene: The Story of How This All Started
I began painting and writing about the process of painting Mary Magdalene many years ago in 2005. And for a long time I have wanted to complete this book that began with a series of posts in my art blog as I was getting ready to present my paintings of Mary Magdalene for the first time.
I wanted to remember the story of how I began painting and to put in writing the little miracles, ideas, facts and transformations that I learned and experienced along the way. And I wanted to publish it in book form and in full color.
As the date of the Mary Magdalene Celebration approached, July 22, 2016, Mary Magdalene's Day, I worked hard to give shape to the book. It became more and more important to achieve the goal of publishing the book on time because I felt it complemented the celebration and my personal commitment to follow up and finish several small projects that had been left behind as the years passed. This one was especially important since I had already almost completed the manuscript a few years ago. It felt really bad to leave it behind and forgotten, and the Mary Magdalene Celebration provided the extra motivation I needed to sit down and finish.
The book begins with a general introduction to the Biblical and legendary Mary Magdalene. Then it continues with the story of how I approached spirituality before meeting Mary Magdalene and how I came to paint her. The process was supported by many readings and research, which I include, although it is by no means an academic book. It is just the story of what I learned and discovered, both from reading and from walking along the spiritual path with the Magdalene.
It has a reproduction of each of my Mary Magdalene paintings in color. The "luxury edition" has higher quality reproductions, but I thought it was important to make it accessible to anyone who might want to read it, so I published an alternative edition, also in full color. Also, I have made available a PDF version.
To order the book: Painting Mary Magdalene: Little Miracles and Transformations Along the Creative Path, $12 (plus shipping) PDF Version, $5.00
Here is an excerpt:
Captivated by Mary Magdalene
The presence of Mary Magdalene was with me since the moment I opened The Da Vinci Code by author Dan Brown. Every time I tell the story of my journey with Mary Magdalene, I need to confess this fact, since it was really the way that I began painting her. Painting became an intellectual engagement with this character of Christian mythology that sent me on an unexpected spiritual journey. I found that it is almost impossible for an artist to conjure an image without invoking everything else that comes with it.
Contrary to the majority of men and women who become interested in Mary Magdalene, I did not arrive with biblical knowledge or too many preconceptions. I also did not come to her as a believer or as a follower of a specific spiritual path. Since I had none of these, because I had either lost it or left it behind at a young age, I met her with the curiosity of an artist who reads with an ignited imagination and a thirsty heart. And it was precisely through the union of my imagination and my heart that she took my hand and led me into a new world.
I also had just come back to life after a two years healing from cancer. It was difficult to continue to live the same way as before. Now I knew that life as we know it and the body with which we construct it must necessarily come to an end. I had also awaken to the world of the imagination and embraced in myself the aspect that, as a child, had defined me and that I had not taken care of as an adult. My dream of being a visual artist had continuously disintegrated, a little at a time, without completely disappearing. It had ended up almost forgotten and relegated to just that, a difficult dream.
My illness made me look at this reality, and as I recovered, a great and irrepressible creative impetus took over me. I began to share not just my creations, but also the process of making them. Since that moment, when I was able to understand that my mission in life is the act of creation, and also the act of sharing with the world the healing that embracing creativity promotes in human beings, I made the decision to recognize creativity as the foundation of my life.
What I did not know was that, at the moment when I realized this, I was also accepting a profound transformation of the view of the world I had held until then. Or that this transformed view would be a necessary component of realizing my dream.
I did not know yet that art is a spiritual path.
Mary Magdalene, Our Lady of Lexington Avenue.
The Christian Magdalene: The Conventional Story and other Popular Myths
The Miracle of the Healing of Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene as a Witness of the Crucifixion
Mary Magdalene at the Tomb
Apostle to the Apostles
Jesus’ Wife
Mary Magdalene After Jesus' Death
Mary Magdalene’s Miracles
Mary Magdalene and the Miracle of Easter Egg
The Miracles of the Uncorrupted Hand of Mary Magdalene
Modern Miracles of Mary Magdalene
The Resurrection of Mary Magdalene..... 2
The Gospel of Mary
Guided by Mary Magdalene
From Feminism to Faith
The Black Virgin
Modern Woman, Modern Magdalene
To Freedom
Little Miracles
The Heart of the Virgin
Captivated by Mary Magdalene
Art and Faith
The Artist and the Prostitute
The Difficulties of Freedom
Faith
Our Lady of Lexington
The Celebration
The Virgin Magdalene (La Virgen de la Magdalena)
Painting Mary Magdalene: Stories and Little Miracles
Song of the Magdalene
Mary Magdalene and Sarah
María Magdalena
Mary Magdalene in the Garden
The Blind Woman
Mary Magdalene of the Leaves
The Apparition
Imagination
Surrender: (Peace in Your Arms: Infinite Love and Mercy)
Our Lady of Częstochowa
The Little Miracle of the Prayer Card
Mary Magdalene of the Roses
The Little Miracle of the Yellow Roses
Mary Magdalene of the Light
Mary Magdalene of the Heart
Mary Magdalene of the Hibiscus
Mary Magdalene of the Tears
Mary Magdalene of the Bees
The Seven Powers of the Magdalene
The Power of the Color Red
The Power of Creative Spirituality
The Power of Sex
The Power of Resources
The Power of Feeling
The Power of Wisdom
The Power of Love
